Hardware

Question

HDD installation help please

I have a problem getting my HDD to work.Normally I surf the web and find the answer myself but this time i am stomped.

The problem:I have ASUS A7V600 motherboard (a bit old), i bought an extra samsung 750GB SATA hard drive, no problems there because i have 2 SATA connections on my M/B and only one is taken.I installed it physically, but my system couldnt boot.Now i flashed and updated my BIOS (or CMOS) (took me 2 hours).

Now i still cant boot. It doesnt recognize my extra HDD automatically.I can try via the F2+alt method, i then enter the VIA RAID BIOS utility and can manually install it. But the thing putting me off is all data on disks will be destroyed (at least it says so in the booklet).

Does this mean that my old (with all my data) and my new one will be erased? If not then i will give it a go.

But the problem here also is that with my new HDD physically attached i cannot navigate this BIOS RAID menu. sigh...

Is there an easier way to do this?DO i need to enter this utility without my HDD attached first?

All Answers

Take out your old drive...

And just work with the new drive on your motherboard, see if the bios can see your new drive, if it does then load on windows and let it do a format for you, then restart your computer to see if all is well. If ok then attach your old drive (set as master, little plastic connector (blue or black in color)) on the back is connected to "Master or MST". Make sure that you go into the bios and select which hdd you want to boot from (boot section). Reboot your computer to see if all is working.

Firstly what you are calling the Manual Setup isn't

Now as for adding the second SATA Drive you need to look at the M'Board as 1 SATA Socket will be labeled as 1 and the other as 2. What you need to do here is plug in your SATA Boot Drive to SATA Socket 1 and the other drive into Socket 2.

The computer should now boot but the new drive will not appear in your OS as you need to Format the HDD.

The way you do this depends on what OS you are using but it involves with all Windows OS's going into Drive Management and right clicking on the New HDD and choosing the Format Option. Some versions of Windows will ask you do you want to Prepare the Drive for Use and you should select Yes to this question.

So if I understand this correctly this is what is happening is it?

You can fit the second SATA Drive look in BIOS but when it comes to opening the existing OS the system refused to play ball. Is that what is happening here?

If it is I'm making a Educated Guess here as the Manual doesn't say any differently but it sounds as if the Unit is attempting to Configure or look for a Working RAID Array and because there isn't oner there it stops at that point.

There could be 2 reasons for this the first is that the M'Board doesn't support 2 Separate SATA Drives not in a RAID Array. If this is the problem you need to update the BIOS to the newest available and most likely the Beta Version which ASUS tends to have available for out of Production M'Boards. If you already have the BIOS updated to the newest available you need to add a PCI to SATA Controller Card and plug the Second & any Subsequent Drives into that. Then boot the system and if required Load the PCI Cards Drivers and then when the system is stable enter Drive Management and right click on the drive & select the Prepare or Format for that HDD which being new isn't formatted.

If this M'Board actually will support 2 SATA Drives not in a RAID Array you then need to enter BIOS and change the settings telling it that there is a RAID Array Present.

Yes indeed

Indeed i did update to the newest bios and i think what you say can be correct.If i make an array do i lose the data on my primary harddisk?And alas second i tried to enter the RAID bios array, i can see the menu but i cannot select anything, meaning i can enter this setup bios voor the raid array, but i cannot navigate it or select anything...DO you have an answer for me?placing a HDD is very very difficult..

RE If i make an array do i lose the data

Depends on the Array type a Striped will cause you to loose your Data as it gets spread over the drives in the Array. A Mirrored Array shouldn't cause you to loose Data as the Second Drive is a Mirror of the Original Drive but in both cases they both need to be the same size drives.

Look at the Add In Page for the Manual here on how to enter the RAID Setup Utility on your ASUS M'Board

Adding HDD on most M'Boards isn't an issue but when the OS Loads the Drive will not be seen as it needs to be formatted up first and to do this if you want to use all of the 750 GIG Drive in 1 Partition you'll need SP@ for XP installed as the older versions of XP do not allow you to format more than 127 GIG at a single time.

I use a lot of ASUS Boards and never had a problem installing more drive but by the same token I've never used a A7V600. Because of the age of the M'Board I was thinking that it may not allow more that 1 SATA Drive to be used not in a RAID. To get around this I would fit a PCI to SATA Plug In Board and use it that way.

As for your Data you really should back it up before proceeding as things can and do go wrong with Installing Windows or changing a Drive setup. So as you can Boot with the original Drive present I would suggest firing up the computer and making a Backup of your Data before proceeding any further.

I haven't asked what happens if you disconnect your Original Drive and attempt to Boot with the New drive only?

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